Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO).

Targeted for release via Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Steam (for PC and Mac) in early 2012, CS: GO will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched exactly 12 years ago (CS beta 1, August 1999).

CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more.

"Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999," said Doug Lombard, VP of Marketing at Valve. "For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac."

CS: GO is being developed by Valve in cooperation with Seattle-based Hidden Path Entertainment. The title is targeted for release in early 2012 and will be playable at this year's PAX Prime and London Games Festival.

Well, quite frankly the recoil used in CS:S was so ridiculously idiotic i'm not going to miss it at all.

The guys behind CS:GO are Hidden Path Entertainment. For those not knowing who the hell they are, they made the excellent Defense Grid game, that set whole new standards to the tower defense games. I hope they'll do just as good with CS:Go as they did with Defense Grid.
Now i also know why nothing new has been released for Defense Grid. They are busy with the CS:GO. Makes sense.

A tower defence company behind the new counter strike? Oh god no.
I really want this to do well, but in my recent experience, games designed for consoles as well as pc's are usually disappointing in one way or another. Here's hoping though

Well, quite frankly the recoil used in CS:S was so ridiculously idiotic i'm not going to miss it at all.

The guys behind CS:GO are Hidden Path Entertainment. For those not knowing who the hell they are, they made the excellent Defense Grid game, that set whole new standards to the tower defense games. I hope they'll do just as good with CS:Go as they did with Defense Grid.
Now i also know why nothing new has been released for Defense Grid. They are busy with the CS:GO. Makes sense.

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Honestly. even though I love Defense Grid, knowing a studio that has never stepped foot in the genre is developing the successor to one of the greatest FPS' ever made, isn't exactly comforting...

It's not like they can make it all that worse. The engine used will be Source Engine, Valve will be working with them, it's pretty much just a matter of resources and time. And the rules set by the Valve. Even though Hidden Path is the developer i think Valve still has the last word in everything. After all, they own the brand and if they'll feel like it's not good enough they'll say that to Hidden Path team.

It's not like they can make it all that worse. The engine used will be Source Engine, Valve will be working with them, it's pretty much just a matter of resources and time. And the rules set by the Valve. Even though Hidden Path is the developer i think Valve still has the last word in everything. After all, they own the brand and if they'll feel like it's not good enough they'll say that to Hidden Path team.

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And what indication do you have that Valve even knows what they are doing when it comes to Counter-Strike? I was there when Condition Zero and Source both came out, and neither was exactly a resounding success. To be honest, I don't think Valve really understands why CS is important, or significant, or even why it's successful. They are very out of touch with the 1.6 and even the Source communities.

Knowing it's the Defense Grid guys behind this makes me even more excited to see it. I guess I should have known who they were seeing as I'm playing Defense Grid at the moment.

Notice how CS:Source is basically unmentioned there, while bringing up the original Counter-Strike's headlining of gaming tournaments. I get the feeling they're definitely trying to tap back into what made the original so popular.

Sorry but im not looking forward to this release . The only game that actually is worth playing based on the Source engine is Day of Defeat ( Dod:Source ) . Any attempt to copy CS will fail. It doesn`t matter how good the game looks if the gameplay is crappy . Around here CS 1.6 is still popular and by the looks of it will still be around for a couple of years . Yea i`m one of those guys that played the game back in `99 and still plays it occasionally in 2011 .

If this is the case then just like what my friend said "The line that differentiate Counter Strike and Call of Duty games is starting to fade"

Counter Strike is the game that really made me love the FPS genre and it became my favorite genre. Still, after playing CS for 4 years straight with a total of 8 years of gameplay, I simple got bored of it, in my region, Counter Strike is the only thing that's preventing the spread of the professional "gaming" lifestyle, along with CoD of course, because almost 85% of people are addicted on these two games and they simply refuse to try different games.

The next Counter-Strike sounds visually overhauled as well, with Levine writing that "maps look beautiful, the player skins and animations are smooth, and the gun models are cool!" Veiser tweeted that the game was apparently "based on the Portal 2 Source engine."